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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  November 29, 2012 11:00pm-12:00am PST

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"outfront" next, breaking news. we are finding out what the white house put on the table to avoid the fiscal cliff and the gop's reaction. plus, the u.s. votes no, but palestine gains size in the u.n. a country. the legal ramifications for israel are not significant. and a month ago, a woman dies after doctors refused to perform her abortion.
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the woman's husband makes a major announcement today. let's go "outfront." we have breaking news. new details on the fiscal cliff deal that timothy geithner put on the table today during his meeting with congressional leaders on the hill. these details just coming in. jessica yellin has that and what have you learned about what geithner took you know, listed out with the numbers and put on the table? >> hey, erin, here are some of the details i'm getting from senior officials on both sides. the headline is that he put out a number of $1.6 trillion in new taxes. that was at according to republican officials, a surprise. they expected a much smaller number and that has some
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republicans crying foul. he proposes extending unemployment insurance. continuing the dock fix. that's approving additional spending on medicare to pay doctors. the amt patch protecting middle income americans. $50 billion in stimulus next year and in return, the administration would offer $400 billion in additional medicare and other entitlement savings next year to be spelled out as they negotiate. there would also be an agreed mechanism for allowing a vote on a debt ceiling increase for perpetuity. republicans not pleased with this. already publicly crying foul. the white house says the president has already signed into law one trillion dollars in tax cut last year. they're willing to compromise more, but rig now, both sides seem more dug in than before. >> a day that was pretty grim on that front. thanks very much and that 1.6 trillion, everyone, surprising republicans and a crucial number
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especially when contrasted with the 4 billion this entitlement cuts. i want to tell you the republican response as jessica indicated. they didn't want anything to do with geithner's plan. yesterday, john boehner moved the markets higher. it was joyful talk about a possible deal, but today, it was like a break-up over tax. he went from love to disgust. here he is right after tim geithner put that deal on the table. >> no progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. >> all right. that's pretty grim. stocks lost early games on that news and the day went downhill. harry reid slapped back. >> still waiting for a serious offer from the republicans. >> so, they agree on something. no progress. but then it actually went beyond that. reid got a little personal. >> i don't understand his brain so you should ask him, okay?
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>> funny, but really not so funny. so what happens when the men in charge start throwing sand in the sand box? we just go over the cliff like some are now suggesting? recall what err skine bowles said two weeks ago. >> i think that's crazy. you know, why would you bet the country? really bet the country by going over this fiscal cliff. >> crazy? betting the country? well, according to the congressional budget office, bowles has a good reason for saying what he did. the economy would go into a recession, economic output would drop and unemployment rate would go back up to 9.1% by the end of next year. now, the clock is ticking. john and harry, get out of the sand box. 33 days are left. peter difazio of oregon is "outfront" tonight. let me just get a response from you about timothy geithner's plan that he put on the table.
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1.6 trillion in revenue. $400 billion in cuts. i'm a little confused because the president said he will give $2.50 in spending cuts for every dollar in revenue. this is, this is the opposite. >> well, finally, the white house has learned not to negotiate with itself, but with the opposition, which is the republicans. remember, there is no real cliff. on january 1st, the only thing that goes away is the social security tax holiday and nobody is seriously talking about continuing that. all the other tax increases don't take place until sometime around march. gives congress plenty of time to rekrit them, but that's $4 trillion of additional revenues. so okay, we're going to cut that more than in half. that will probably mean reagan era rates on capital gains. clint era rates on higher income people and you're getting close to $1.6 trillion, so i don't think it's that unreasonable and the key thing he put forward today and i'm pleased because
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i've been raising this for more than a month. we need to put people back to work in this country and if we funded a robust transportation infrastructure bill as part of this package and put a couple of million people back to work, a lot of the deficit goes away. >> didn't they say that last time? >> i didn't vote for that and the word stimulus is totally discredited. it did not -- 7% of that bill was investment and infrastructure. 42% was tax cuts. we've been trying tax cuts for more than a decade. they don't put people back to work. real investment does. we have report after report, economist after economist, real investment will put millions of people back to work. >> right. those were tax cuts of the vast middle in this country. what you want to extend and the republicans. i'm still confused. if the president wants $1.6 trillion in revenue and is going to do his math, that's $3 trillion in cuts. why only put 400 billion out? >> well, he's probably leaving
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himself a little room to negotiate. >> a little. >> is reasonable on medicare. if he just started negotiating lower drug prices, that saves medicare $230 billion over ten years. and then you deal with some of these high cost private insurance plans under medicare and a couple of other minor changes that won't hurt average american, won't make them wait until 67 to get medicare, we could get the 400 billion there. >> when the president earlier had talked about medicare, not today, but before, he has said yes, i support raising the age on medicare from 65 to 67. simpson bowles talked about raising the age. most people do and say that's really going to be the only way to get out of this. you really think we don't have to make real changes or is that just, i understand your constituents don't want you to say anything. >> that doesn't teal with the
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cost of prescription drugs. >> fair. >> with overpriced and unnecessary medical care and finally, if we did extend the age to 67? guess what? they'd have to go to the obama exchanges and with low incomes and get subsidies there to buy private insurance which probably in the end would be more expensive than medicare, so actually, you would just move from here to here and you might even increase the deficit. >> interesting point, but i still find it a little bit hard to believe. when you say we don't have to make substantive change to a program that's going to consume all of our federal spending if we keep going the way we're going, we do need to make substantial changes. it's going to hurt. >> i didn't say that. i'm part of the quality health care coalition. we want to move to out space medicine. we want every state to be as efficient as my state and 16 other states who provide care at about the third of the cost of florida and fourth of the cost of new york. we need to rationalize the system across the country and go to those states that are wasting
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a bumpbl of money and make them more efficient providers. we need to negotiate the prescription drug prices saving a quarter of a trillion dollars and you know, we need to reign in these private health insurance plans that are living off medicare. those are real changes. >> all right. let me ask you this though. you said there is no cliff. cbo says there's a cliff. it doesn't all hit on day one. but the fact of this country and you guys in washington not being able to get a deal done just the atmosphere, the frustration and the fear that could create, how can you say that's not a cliff? >> well, a lot of hysteria out there, but again, the fact is only the social security tax holiday goes away. the with holding tables don't change. no one's taxes go up in january. the cuts through se quest don't go into effect immediately and i would hope congress would make discreet cuts instead of stupid across the board cut, so we
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would have time to get to work on january 3rd and deal with restoring tax bets to middle income and working families and deal with a more discreet way of reducing spending. >> and you'd be willing to take it if the market reacted incredibly negatively. you think that's manageable? >> i'm not sure why that would happen. because you know, wall street's very good at managing hysteria. i opposed the t.a.r.p. bailout. they can only manipulate it so far and then there's real value there that will come back. >> oh, i wish that we could talk about t.a.r.p. let's do it another time because i think that would be a fascinating conversation. thanks very much, sir. next, a dramatic decision that could open the door for war crimes and george h.w. bush is
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victory for palestinians. the u.n. general assembly voted in favor of palestinian state hood. we want to show you the wild celebrations going on right now. this is the west bank. after the u.n. overwhelmingly gave the palestinians something they have wanted for years and the vote was pretty overwhelming. 138 countries in favor. it was a shellacking for those against it. the resolution passed against the will of the united states, israel, canada and six other nations. here's u.n. ambassador susan rice after the vote. >> today's unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path to peace. that is why the united states
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voted against it. >> now, the vote gives the palestinians a higher profile at the u.n. and more important, it also means they can join organizations like the international criminal court. that is important because it could allow the palestinians to pursue war crime charges against israel. "outfront" tonight, the prime min sfer. good to see you. so, what does this vote mean for israel? >> it doesn't mean anything. i think it means resolution because if you'd like to get the sate, it should be on negotiations. they've got a good support of one country, israel. and they would get it only if the will is negotiations. what's happened today is that the community gave them a mandate -- between the palestinians because according to the conference, it says
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they're very clear that no one can take a unilateral move and they took the unilateral move against the will of israel and i think that if you don't respect their signature or agreement, they would keep the agreement, it would be made, be given and that's what we can't stand. >> they've wanted decades to have a two-state solution and israel, you say you want one, but keep saying there's negotiations, but don't get one, so they feel this is their only way. >> no, because they can get any resolution at the u.n. i want to mention and to remind you, in 1988, in 2008, that very similar. what does it mean? they got the state. they can get the state from negotiations. they did everything to prevent
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negotiations. turn to netanyahu and ask him to accept the idea of two-state resolution. to freeze the settlements. still didn't show up, but not om us, our predecessors negotiated for a very long time. 98.5% of territories and still didn't get an agreement. >> all right, all this may be true, but the countries in the middle east that recognize you all voted for this. it was only nine countries. the united states was alone. italy, france, they voted for palestine. does today's vote worry you that okay, it's you and the u.s., but the u.s. has lost power and influence. israel's losing power and influence. >> most in arab countries and those from the third world without always against israel.
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>> italy, france. >> okay, so italy, france and others joined in. because they filled it after the declaration is very poor -- to helping, encouraging to strength. the only way to do it is slow negotiations. and negotiations means to give and take. not willing to take any kind of -- if they were glad to come, they can find us willing. >> you talk about how why some of the european countries might have voted for this, but you know, everyone said that hamas gained a lot of power. hamas doesn't recognize your right to exist. the plo does. abbas. is it possible the win today gives him a boost? that this is something that is good for you? >> first, it raised the question if he represents the whole palestinians or only half of them. only the west bank as you have
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just mentioned. hamas don't recognize the right of israel to exist, so what we are dealing with here is the palestinian people. that's first. the second thing is more important. they are violating their signature with israel. it makes those that are opposing the peace process in israel and in the arab world much more powerful because they always tell us, don't believe the palestinians. they will never, never implement their commitments and they show us once again that we are committed not to make a lateral move. we'll negotiate for the final start agreement. unfortunately, those that oppose the idea to them was the palestinians become more powerful and the community helped them to accept or to convince the israel public opinion that there is no one for us.
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>> thank you very much. we appreciate your coming on. it was a big day today on that vote and next, the day after i man charged with leaking thousands of military documents, was in court today, army private bradley manning made his case. our third story "outfront," allegations of abuse. army private bradley manning took the stand today. he is charged in the largest leak of classified material in american history. he's accused of spilling thousands of military and state department documents which ended up on wikileaks. he says he suffered abuse when confined to a break for nine months. last night, i spoke to wikileaks founder julian assange about manning. >> the case is about the abuse of bradley manning. over a nine-month period, bradley manning was abused. why was he treated that way? his lawyer argues and many others who have followed the case argues he was ordered to coerce him into a confession that would bring down me or wikileaks. >> pentagon has maintained manning was held in accordance with rules regarding all maximum custody detainees. if convicted, they could go for
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life in prison. "outfront" tonight, chris lawrence is is at the pentagon. manning and his defense team, they have been claiming that the private was held in harsh conditions. he said quote, i'm going to die. i'm stuck inside this cage and he also said i have pretty much given up. my world had just shrunk. what else was in his testimony. >> he was very calm. dressed in his dress blues and described what it felt like in that first prison in kuwait. he said that's where he thought about suicide, then he was transferred to quantico, where he spent about five months in solitary confinement and he said that really brought him back to kuwait. he said i felt like i was being dragged back into that hole, so we heard a lot of description about what it was like for him under that sort of confinement. >> now, the military argues that keeping him was getting the circumstances.
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this is espionage. giving away secrets of the united states. something that could get the death penalty even though they're not going for that. are they making that case? >> they say at the time, he was a maximum security detainee who posed a threat to himself and others, but today, what we heard on the stand was manning giving some different perspective to some of those incidents. he said the guards looked at him and there was some concern because he was playing peekaboo with himself in the mirror or dancing to music when there was no music playing. he said it was out of sheer boredom. he said he wasn't allowed to lay down during the day. nothing to do in that cell for 24 hours, so he used himself to keep himself occupied. we heard of some chinks in the government's case because the marine commander justified that he was telling his higher ups apt the pentagon that quantico was no place to keep manning for
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any period of time and recommended he stay there no longer than 90 days. manning ended up there three times that long and we heard from a navy doctor who said he was advised the base commanders that he was to be taken off suicide watch. >> the government will be questioning manning tomorrow. another republican defies grover norquist and his tax pledge. he's "outfront" to explain why he did it and a month ago, a woman died when doctors failed to perform an abortion. her husband is now stepping out. . now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit.
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we start the second half with stories we care about where we focus on our reporting from the front lines and we begin with new photos obtained by the institute for science and international security. they say they show more activity
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at an iranian military site. a site that nuclear inspectors have been denied access to. here's what the site looked like in september. the roofs of the buildings are are covered with tarps. just take a look. now, we're going to fast forward it. switch the picture to november 7th. what you'll see now is that the buildings have blue roofs and new equipment on site. this is according to the am sis from sis. the think tank says additional things are being done to the site. a russian judge says performances by pussy riot should be removed from the internet. their most notorious video is the one that landed two band members in jail. in it, the band sings an anti putin song in a cathedral. the judge allegations it includes words that humiliate various groups.
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and former president george h.w. bush has been in a houston area hospital for six days. a spokesperson says he has been treated and cures of bronchitis. bush is 88 years old and he is the oldest living former president of the united states. and an update now on the indian woman who went to an irish hospital for back pain and was told she was having a miscarriage. now, despite the circumstance, her husband praveen says doctors refused to abort the fetus because of ireland's strict abortion laws. she ended up dying of blood poisoning. now, praveen has decided to take the case to court because irish officials failed to adequately investigate. and a bankruptcy judge has
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approved a bonus plan for hostess brands. the $1.75 million plan gives 19 executives bonuses ranging to $535,000. it has been 483 days since this country lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? from july through september, the economy grew by -- but it was in line with expectations. tim geithner putting a deal on the table. we told you the details at the top of the show. $1.6 trillion in taxes, extend unemployment and put the amt patch. home mortgage refinancing, $5 billion in stimulus. in run, he offered $400 billion in entitlement savings and said if you do this, we have to agree on a debt limit. you might say there's no way republicans are going to accept
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this. let's see. kevin yoder is a republican of kansas. he's "outfront" and member of the appropriations committee. what do you say to secretary geithner's bid? >> i don't think it's a serious proposal. it's not the type of balanced approach the president's spoken about and i don't think it's the type of thing that's going to get our economy going again. it's just not that type of balance the american people are looking for. whey too high on taxes. not nearly enough on spending reductions. >> the president has said all the way along, if i give you a dollar of revenue, if you guys give me a dollar of revenue, that's $3 trillion in spending cuts. he's coming in with 400, so would you try to get him to 3 trillion here or try to bring down the revenue number? >> well, i think you have to bring down the revenue number. we are not going to tax and spend our way back into economic prosperity in this country.
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we are going to have to work together. i think most americans are tired of seeing the partisanship and debates. i'm pleased the speaker's up at the white house to find a solution. most people want certainty, long-term predictability in the economy and raising taxes for this amount i think would put us back into a recession and be counterproductive to get our economy going on. >> john boehner clearly, he's the key negotiator. are you going to agree to whatever deal he brings you, if he says representative yoder, it's $1.4 trillion in revenue. it's 1.4. do you say all right, i trust john boehner, i'm going with it? >> no, the speaker still has to sill it to congress, republicans and democrats. you're going to have to have a lot of input and a lot of effort to put together a bill that
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brings in a lot of party's ideas. so certainly, whatever they come up with at the white house is going to have some public discussions. i'm going to talk to my constituents about it at home. the speaker's going to have to sell it still. the speaker has an attitude of finding a solution. he knows that a long-term solution is critical to getting this economy back on track and waiting until the end, the last minute is not our goal. we're trying to get this done soon. >> let me ask you something about revenue. everyone's talked about this pledge, right, to not raise taxes championed by grover norquist. he has become a household name this this country. you though are one of six house republicans plus seven in the senate who didn't sign the pledge. what made you, when you were given that opportunity and so many of your fellow elected officials signed it, what made you say no? >> it's not because i think we should raise taxes. it's because i believe my obligation to the constitution and to my district, they want an informed congressman trying to
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find a solution and if you fumble every option before you get to goerpuation, you're not trying to work to the other side. i do know the president has said he'll veto any legislation that doesn't find additional revenue, so we've got to find a solution. going off the cliff is not an option. so i just think a lot of these pledges and all these things that ultimately it restricts our ability to work together and find solutions that will save the country. you can't foresee every solution. it may ultimately some type of revenue may be the ultimate bargain. i think the republicans and speaker are being very reasonable. i heard in the debate, so 10-1. okay, here's our one. the conversation is really now moving back from the revenue and moving towards the spending reductions, where are the entitlement reforms.
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the speaker's trying to call the president's bluff. >> i think the republicans, they said they wouldn't even accept 10-1. good to see you. >> you know, as we said, kevin yoder there explaining why he's against the antitax pledge. he's one of the few and this issue of grover norquist tax pledge is pitting republican versus republican. threatened a run against saxby chambliss. now, you just heard kevin yoder make this case for look, i'm a republican, i don't want to raise taxes, but my duty is to the constitution, i want to do what's right so i'm not going to sign that pledge and sounds like people like you, i'm going to run against you, you got to be tougher. >> you know, i would go back to the clinton tax rates in a heart beat, but they'd have to give me the spinning rates as well e. they're not doing that and no one's ever put that on the table.
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what we've got in washington are republicans and democrats both trying to pivot to be the more reasonable party in front of the american people. the republicans are going to get blamed no matter what they do. that's political environment. they might as well embrace the fiscal cliff. >> you heard peter difazio saying earlier in the program, democrat, go off the cliff, there is no cliff. no problem. >> folks on both sides. look, there's not a clip there and they're going to play chicken and go off. >> and then you're road kill at the bottom. >> that's exactly right. most folks are saying since the economy's improving, congress, don't screw it up and you get some folks on the far left and far right, there's no cliff, don't worry about this. we're after the election, this isn't an id logical debating society. this is about getting something done. let's work on a short-term deal. >> the deal that's there, we're in this situation because congress came up with what
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they're calling the fiscal cliff now and they're calling it the fiscal cliff because they don't want to e embrace either the tax increases or spending cuts and i think it's foolish to think this congress can come up with a better deal. >> you know what's interesting, to eric's point, there is a great irony in this that the democrats are saying we've got to raise taxes and the fiscal cliff does both. just not in the way anybody wants it, so if they can't do that, how are they going to find a way they can all agree on? >> the superfailed committee. this is a giant hatchet as opposed to a scalpel. >> it was designed to fail. >> i agree, but the real solution and real irony is going to be the ultimate deal's going to look like the obama boehner grand bargain that was negotiated and almost done in the summer of 2011. the fact that we couldn't make that deal then i think's a
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tragedy for the country. one of the thing's it did was lead to that aaa downgrading. that was unnecessary. >> let me just follow up on this point of what republicans should accept. you said you'd go back to the clinton era tax rates if you could get the spending that went with it. there are some in the republican party like congressman tom cole congress them saying let's just do that. let the rates go up for those at the top, then wait and negotiate. is there anything about that that you think could make sense? >> that's not a negotiation. the president's not going to then lower those rates. >> that might be a capitulation. >> yeah, it is a capitulation. the president thinks he's got all the cards. the republicans position
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improves at the beginning of the year and frankly, there are a number of people coming back, people who contributed to this mess and i'm not sure as a citizen i want them to be the ones who fix it. >> aren't they in a stronger position, democrats in january? >> which is all the more reason to get this done now. and really not look a gift horse in the mouth. only in washington, congress, is an agreement on 98% of something not the grounds for making a deal. you've got 98% agreement on taxes. take that deal. don't go over the fiscal cliff. live to find another deal on a grand bargain. tax reform, entitlement. >> you really think democrats, they get that tax increase, that they're going to come and give spending cuts late sner. >> i think there are ways you can try to make it. eric's made a great point historically that things like ruddman, the spending cuts never end up happening. everyone who's realistic at the table recognizes you've got to have a balanced plan. serious cuts and revenue increases. you can't -- >> we've had 18 debt and deficit commissions since '81. the cuts never came. >> cynicism isn't a plan though, eric. we need to put forward a plan.
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can't just keep saying they're screwing it up. >> if you don't put cuts in though with tax increase, you've got a problem because it's easy to raise taxes on a few people. most people will not support cuts that hurt them. >> you've got to have entitlement reform. >> you can actually lower rates, close loopholes and raise revenue. >> all right. thanks to both. appreciate it. more than two months after the deadly attack in benghazi, investigators are still looking for answers and today, the fbi turned to facebook for help and a possible turning point in syria. the obama administration tonight weighing whether to take a big step and involve arming the rebels.
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we are back with tonight's outer circle, where we reach out to sources around the world. tonight we go to syria where the internet is nearly blacked out, the road to airport is shut down and the rebels are advancing. the u.s. is deciding whether to arm them. the president has never taken the provision of arms off the table.
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nick payton-walsh is in beirut. i asked him about the deteriorating situation in syria. >> reporter: two dramatic developments today. first, the communications blackout across the country, the internet down along with most cell phones. perhaps done by the regime to stop rebel communications with the outside world about their successes, perhaps suggesting a crisis at the heart of damascus' ruling elite but also key movement on the outskirts of the capital, damascus international airport. flights canceled from there. reports of clashes nearby. two austrian peace keepers working for the u.n. likely wounded and regime forces moving in the area around there to take on rebels who say they are only two kilometers away. that vital symbol on the outskirts of the capital clearly under threat at the moment and after months of stalemate, signs
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of real change and movement on the ground. erin? >> thank you, nick. now to cairo, where president morsi's move to fast track the new constitution is being met with resistance. some say it's a way to defuse anger over morsi's decree to expand his presidential powers and weaken the judiciary but critics say he's hijacking the constitution.
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october 4th because of security concerns. they say they weren't going to put agents in harm's way, they were worried. cnn as you know went to the compound before, found the ambassador's journal. by the time the fbi got there, would all the evidence have been compromised or -- >> sure. i mean, in an arson when a building burns down, it's a crime that consumes its own evidence. what the fbi needs to break a case like this is an informant. many informants. but in the old days they would put a wanted poster up in a post office. you can put it on the internet now. what will break a case like this is money. they can't put a suitcase full of cash on the table. cia could do that. >> and we would assume the cia is doing that, right? obviously as we all now are aware, three quarters of the
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americans that were in libya at the time of the attack actually worked for the cia and not even the state department, right? >> one would hope they're on the case. obviously this is a case of extreme sensitivity. ambassadors don't get killed every day or every year, and it was a bungle. >> are they working together, do you think? so many people have fears, especially now you have petraeus losing his spot at the cia. in part because of work by the fbi. now, that's just a recent case that happened. but are they going to be working together, the way they should be? >> they have been able to work together in the past and they've done great things when they work together but throughout the 65-year history of the cia, they have often been at each other's throats and not cooperating. >> how much pressure is the fbi under to get this right? >> there's a dead american ambassador and three other dead americans in a case of murder, possibly terrorism. it can take decades to break a case like this, and they may be working on it decades from now but they will never stop. >> they want to get it done quickly.
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that's part of the reason they're doing things like facebook, anything they can do. thanks very much. appreciate your time. a massive, brazen, beautiful con man is "outfront" next. then i heard this news about a multivitamin study looking at long-term health benefits for men over 50. the one they used in that study... centrum silver. that's what i take. my doctor! he knows his stuff. [ male announcer ] centrum. the most recommended. most preferred. most studied. centrum, always your most complete. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief.
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four years, kiev and moscow have been locked in hey bitter dispute over the russian pipeline that runs through the ukraine. this week, the ukraine decided they have had enough. they are going to climb out from under russia's thumb and sign a deal with a new gas partner. okay. this deal was a big deal. over $1 billion and what it was going to do was have the company build a new port terminal on the black sea for importing and exporting liquefied natural gas. the signing of the agreement was such a big deal in the ukraine it was televised. it was attended by the prime minister and by a man called jordy sarda bonvehi representing
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the company. huge step toward energy independence and a big bird to russia. one big problem. the company doesn't know anything about it. turns out that jordy doesn't actually work for that company. he's the bald gentleman in this shot. take a good look at this guy. we don't know what his real name is. it appears he's a con man who was able to get through multiple rounds and rounds and rounds of negotiations and a televised appearance for a $1 billion deal without detection. i mean, that's kind of incredible. you have got to give the guy that. in fact, on the surface, this seems like a mirror image of one of the most infamous swindles in history, when victor lustig posed as a corrupt government official and sold the eiffel tower to scrap metal companies. back then, he got money. he got the money from sales and additional political bribes. years later, he even pulled a scam on al capone. yes. he swindled al capone out of $5,000 of money. adjust that for inflation.
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to quote bill clinton, that takes a lot of brass. and a lot of smarts, which is something that our new con man, as smart as he obviously was, apparently didn't have enough of because it seems that the mystery man didn't actually ask for any of the billion dollars or his cut up front. so sure, the ukraine loses a lot of face, but he leaves with presumably nothing. he didn't even get any cash. thanks so much for watching. why not make lunch more than just lunch? with two times the points on dining in restaurants, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy.
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